1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to food serving devices and methods. More particularly, it relates to a cereal bowl for maintaining the integrity of cereal throughout a meal and to a device that permits drainage of liquid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cereal, commonly eaten with milk products or substitutes, has a general tendency to become undesirably soggy from prolonged contact with liquid before it is consumed. As a result, many meals are not enjoyable and often times part of the meal is discarded because the user does not want to eat soggy cereal.
Inventors have created several types of bowls and devices to reduce this problem of soggy cereal. However, all of these devices possess drawbacks and none of them are commercially available.
For example, the device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 876,808 to Kinert (1908) has an elevated cereal compartment to keep the cereal up and out of the milk. This device must be tilted to gather the milk. U.S. Pat. No. 1,100,298 to Hass (1914) discloses a kitchen utensil for mixing mayonnaise dressing. U.S. Pat. No. 1,272,996 to Poschadel (1918) shows a divided dish for use with soup or ice cream. The apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,520,402 to Clemans (1923) includes two compartments, one large and one small, with a low section in the wall between them to facilitate the transfer of cereal between them. U.S. Pat. No. 2,207,417 to Smith (1938) discloses a hopper feed cereal bowl having a tall, elongated shape. U.S. Pat. No. 2,843,287 to Finley (1954) and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 176,252 to Duncan (1955) disclose serving pieces having two compartments with a low section in the wall between them to facilitate the transfer of food between them. U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,940 to Naimoli (1978) discloses a bi-level device with a high quantity of parts involved. U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,444 to Majewski (1982) discloses a bowl with a costly additional item required to tilt the bowl, which increases the chances for spillage. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 283,096 to Uhrik (1986) shows a device having two compartments, one large and one small. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 298,898 to Roshau (1988) shows an elongated bi-level bowl. The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 305,846 to Griffith (1990) has a costly insert. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,433 to Davis (1991) discloses a device with two bowls connected by an elongated chute.
Although all of the above mentioned inventions can be used to reduce the problem of cereal becoming soggy, they all suffer from drawbacks:
a) tilting required to gather the milk into a puddle for removal with a spoon;
b) cereal must be raked from a large flat surface;
c) large size, excessive weight, or an odd shape make some difficult to store;
d) some are inherently awkward;
e) many require that a small portion of cereal be placed in a large quantity of liquid. The cereal can then disperse due to a lack of confinement and must be pursued;
f) size, shape, or tilt require many to be abnormally large or else require the cereal and/or liquid to be replenished during the course of the meal due to inadequate or disproportionate volumes;
g) many are costly to produce due to the high quantity of parts;
h) the liquid and cereal are in different compartments and there is no way to measure their quantities in relationship to one another;
i) some enable a user to leisurely eat a bowl of cereal but do not assist in keeping the liquid cool over this extended duration;
j) some of these devices have uncommon shapes;
k) many of these would be difficult, if not impossible, to place in a modern dishwasher, especially for a family with several bowls needing cleaned at the same time.